The second official debate of Mexico’s presidential candidates this Sunday focused on economic issues, so promises about wages and employment, as well as macroeconomic and public finance figures dominated the exchanges.
These are the main data that marked the meeting of the three presidential candidates, the ruling party Claudia Sheinbaum, and the opponents Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez.
Minimum salary
Álvarez Máynez, of the opposition Citizen Movement (MC), promised to raise the minimum wage to $10,000 Mexican pesos per month (about $583 dollars), above the current $7,467 pesos ($435.4 dollars), while Sheinbaum asserted that it will be raised to an equivalent of 2.5 basic baskets.
“(There are) better salaries. Remember that salaries did not increase for 36 years in the country and for the first time (under the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador) they increased 110%. We are going to bring salaries to 2.5 basic baskets,” said the former head of Government of Mexico City (2018-2023).
100 new industrial parks due to ‘nearshoring’
Sheinbaum promised to build 100 new industrial parks to take advantage of the phenomenon of chain relocation or ‘nearshoring’.
“We are going to develop another 10 wellness centers throughout the country to take advantage of the relocation that is taking place at the moment. Among other things, we are going to create 100 industrial parks linked to regional vocations, with education and development for well-being,” he stated.
The 54% growth of debt per capita
Xóchitl Gálvez denounced that the growth of per capita debt is equivalent to 54% during López Obrador’s six-year term (2018-2024).
“They did put the country in debt. Today each Mexican owes $128,000 Mexican pesos ($7,463.5 dollars). (This is) $45,000 pesos ($2,623.9 dollars) more than when they arrived. That’s why I tell you that (Sheinbaum) tells lies. That is why she is the candidate of lies,” said the candidate from the Fuerza y Corazón por México alliance.
Tax exemption for 20 million Mexicans. The opposition candidate promised that “anyone who earns less than $15,000 pesos ($874.6 dollars) per month will not pay taxes,” which “benefits 20 million Mexicans.”
Billionaire fiscal support for Pemex
The Fuerza y Corazón por México candidate assured that the López Obrador Administration has granted Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) fiscal support of $2 billion pesos ($116,618 million dollars), which is equivalent to building 8 million homes and giving $50,000 pesos ($2,915.5 dollars) to each of those people. “Pemex is a robber,” she said.
More than 5 million out of poverty
The ruling party’s candidate cited that the López Obrador Government, according to it, lifted 5.1 million people out of poverty, based on the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval).
“For the first time since 1982 we are below 40% of the poor population, and at the same time inequality decreased,” Sheinbaum highlighted.
But Gálvez argued that there are still 47 million people in poverty.
Less inequality
Sheinbaum accused his main rival, Gálvez, of representing the “neoliberalism” of his parties, National Action (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).
“During the time of (Felipe) Calderón (president from 2006 to 2012, the inequality between rich and poor of the PAN) reached 35 times. With the transformation, inequality has decreased 17 times, that is, it is a different model, before those at the top were supported, now those at the bottom are supported,” he argued.
Five days of work
Álvarez Máynez highlighted that Movimiento Ciudadano supports the reduction of the working day from 48 hours to 40 hours per week, in addition to accusing the parties of Gálvez and Sheinbaum of not supporting the proposal in Congress.
“She (Sheinbaum) is a candidate for the party that today has a majority in Congress. With her votes we could approve a decent working day with two days of rest a week, we could approve that this country has a universal minimum income,” she stated.
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